


Lucky

by Kono_tte



Category: fkmt, 天 天和通りの快男児| Ten: Tenhoudoori no Kaidanji (Manga)
Genre: Adult Men Acting Like Shy Teens, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-14 06:32:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13584300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kono_tte/pseuds/Kono_tte
Summary: Ten is lucky to just know Akagi, he thinks. Could he get any luckier?





	Lucky

Akagi sat at the bar simply to kill some time. He was waiting for someone to come and pick him up from there, and as much as he was good at waiting, he needed something to pass the time on his own. He didn't need much for it: a drink in hand, his eyes observing his surroundings while pleasant jazz soothed his ears. The bar was dimly lit, walls and floor of dark wood, the lights glowing in yellow hue. Akagi smiled to himself, enjoying the peaceful late evening.

Quite unexpectedly, yet not leaving Akagi fazed, he heard someone speaking behind him. _To_ him.

"Hey, old man."

Akagi didn't recognise that voice but he turned to look at its direction, to his other side and up. A younger man, two others behind him, glared down at Akagi. The one closest to him asked,

"Having a good time?"

That was even more unexpected, quite weird too, but the tiny smile on Akagi's lips didn't waver.

"Sure am. You need help?"

" _Mmmmmmaybe_ ," the man hummed, his eyes darting briefly lower at Akagi's shirt that had two of its upper buttons undone. "We were just thinking if you'd like to come with us."

Weirder and weirder.

"I don't see any reason to," Akagi replied, and with that he returned to his original position of looking at the bar.

"Hey, now, we are not done here yet." Something pressed on Akagi's shoulder, and he knew it to be the man's hand. "There's no way a guy like you would be sitting here alone." This time, Akagi didn't reply. "Come on, now..." Akagi felt it through his jacket and blouse: the hand moved up to his neck, fingers diving into his soft, white hair -

"Are we having a problem here?"

A stronger voice came out of nowhere, and just a short moment later, the hand was off of Akagi. He turned around and saw another hand grabbing on the daring man's wrist, clearly applying more force to it than was necessary, which caused the harasser to groan in pain.

"Uagh...! What - what are - let go!" The newcomer did as they were told, and the hurt man stepped back, rubbing his wrist with his other hand furiously as he stared at the stranger. Akagi, too, looked at them, and his eyes and smile were back to their previous softness.

"Ah, it's you, Ten." The man didn't acknowledge Akagi's indirect greeting, instead he glared at the trio next to them. He, too, was smiling, but not in a pleasant way: it looked more dangerous and threatening, and his thick messy hair alongside impressive facial scars made it even more daunting. Ten talked, a slight growl audible in his low voice,

"That didn't look very nice, are you sure it's alright to touch others like that?"

"Ghhh..!"

"Ten, it's fine," Akagi said, perfectly composed. Ten didn't look at him, not yet.

"Are you sure?"

"It wasn't anything, really." Akagi smiled at the men behind Ten's broad shoulder. They didn't seem pleased at all, and as they looked at each other, they groaned.

"Tch. Nevermind."

Akagi snickered, Ten turned and simply said to Akagi,

"We are going out now."

"Yes, let's."

 

* * *

 

The street they were walking on was a quiet one, further from the centre of the busiest district, the only sources of light illuminating from the street lamps on that dark late evening. Akagi and Ten, side by side, walked alongside a bridge that crossed a tiny river, looking at the rippling, glimmering water underneath them.

After a while, Ten spoke. Neither of them had done that since leaving the bar.

"I know you are perfectly capable of dealing with nosy guys like them."

"I am. They were no trouble to me."

"Still... having them so close to you like that... That looked creepy." Akagi hummed, then replied,

"It wasn't too bad. I didn't want to cause a scene either, I wanted to remain cool."

"Cool, huh..." Ten exhaled. "I had a hard time keeping my cool, you know that?"

"I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry... But that's what came to my mind first."

"Hmm?"

"Seeing that jerk's hand on you... It was the first thing I saw, and I thought, 'I need to stop that.' I couldn't -"

"That's just like you, Ten," Akagi gave a short laugh, that time it was more heartfelt, and it caused for Ten to feel a familiar clench around his usually strong heart.

It had required a lot of strength from him not to bash the guy's head on the bar's table the moment he had gotten to them. That really had tested him.

Ten tried to think of more things to say, he didn't want to prolong the silence, with not much distraction for them to focus on. Then, he stopped walking.

"Hey, Akagi, you mind if we sit for a while? For a smoke..."

"Sounds good."

They took a seat at a bench at the centre of the bridge, and Ten offered a cigarette to Akagi who accepted it with a small, polite smile. In return, Akagi took his old lighter from his jacket's pocket and lit their cigarettes, first Ten's, then his own. They took relaxed inhales and watched their exhales appear in the air, in the dim light. The water under the bridge sparkled and waved silently. Ten sighed.

"My first cig in hours... I needed this." Akagi let out an amused hum. It made Ten smile. "Did you have to wait for me long?"

"Not too long, I could have finished my drink." The smile on Ten's lips quivered a little.

"Sorry about that..."

"It's fine. I can drink anywhere, anytime. But being here with you is nicer."

Ten couldn't help but swallow as he heard those words.

"R-really..." Akagi let out another short chuckle, then placed his cigarette back between his lips. Ten looked at him, at them. He understood those men perfectly. Ten could have spent _minutes_ just staring at Akagi's mature profile but forced himself to look down at his worn-out shoes. "I like being with you too."

Akagi didn't respond. Ten listened to the silence, wondering what he was supposed to say next. Akagi wasn't much of a small-talker by nature, and he didn't want to annoy him either.

He decided to say what was on his mind right then.

"I got scared because... if they had gone too far..." Ten's words faded towards the end, and he saw from the corner of his eye how Akagi turned his head slightly to his direction. "I don't even want to think about it." There was another moment of absence of words, then Ten heard Akagi sigh.

"Yeah... I don't want to do anything like that with strangers." Something about Akagi's choice of words made Ten feel weird.

"I am not trying to defend them or anything... but, I know how they feel..." Ten looked carefully at Akagi who was now facing forward and taking another inhale from his smoke while looking at somewhere into the night sky. "You _do_ know that you are very attractive, right?"

Akagi lowered the cigarette from his lips. Ten observed his reaction, slightly nervous. The white-haired man's eyes widened, then he turned back to Ten, utterly flabbergasted, bemused. Ten coughed,

"You _do_ know that, yeah?"

"I am not the one to say that," Akagi said, and his voice was monotone. Ten let out a sigh, somewhat frustrated.

"Come on, you have heard that before, haven't you? You must have, many times!"

"Not a single time," Akagi said, neither his eyes nor words wavering. Ten froze.

"What?"

"No one has ever said that to me."

"You are kidding me."

"I'm not."

"Oh."

"That's my reaction..." Akagi said quietly, still staring at Ten with widened eyes. It was hard for Ten to maintain the eye contact but he did so anyway, even though it felt like both his cheeks and eyes were on fire. What to do next? What to say next? Ten hadn’t thought that far when the original question had popped into his mind.

”Sorry, I didn’t mean… I didn’t mean to be creepy… but it kind of was, wasn’t it…?” Ten fluttered his eyes, obviously ashamed and confused by his own boldness. “I don’t know what came over me -”

Then happened something Ten hadn’t expected.

”Hm-hm-hm…!”

Akagi laughed.

”A-Akagi?”

”No, I’m sorry… I just don’t know what to say to that, _hm-hm_ … Well, I guess, I should thank you for the compliment, at the very least,” Akagi smiled at Ten, his cheekbones slightly risen which softened his sharp features in a subtle, adorable way. Ten visibly jumped as he saw it.

”Oh… ah… haa, well… you’re welcome!” Ten said, a pleased tone in his voice. Akagi laughed softly again.

”Hehhee… That came as a surprise to me. But it isn’t bad.” Akagi raised his eyes at the nightly sky above them. “A surprise after another… What will happen next?”

”Uhhh…” Ten stared at Akagi, wishing he would continue. He didn’t. Ten coughed. “I wonder… the night is still young…” He, too, looked up at the dim twinkles of stars: first he hadn't noticed them but now, with the sky the shade of the darkest blue, they appeared brighter, blinking lively. “You just gotta keep your eyes open… and maybe another surprise will come across your path.”

”Eyes open? Many surprises occur when you least expect it.”

”Ahaha, that is true too…”

”Do you want to test it, here, right now?”

”...test it?”

”Shall we see if a surprise happens with our eyes closed?”

”...no harm in it, yeah?”

”Yeah.”

What this meant, what Akagi had in his mind, if he had anything in his mind at all - Ten had no idea, but soon his eyes were closed, staring into his own eyelids. Sitting on a bench with another man, his eyes closed, in the early hours of night - it sure was Ten’s first time doing that. But it wasn’t, couldn’t be bad, because he was with Akagi.

Ten wondered if Akagi really had his own eyes closed as well.

Ten also wondered if he didn’t, and if he, Ten, himself looked silly at that very moment.

And the very next second, he wondered what could be the warm air touching his face right then -

Ten opened his eyes.

Akagi was still sitting next to him, only a tiny gap between them, and Ten saw his eyes blissfully closed, as if he was reminiscing a nice memory, or waiting for something pleasant to happen soon, for a new nice memory to be made.

An idea came to Ten's mind, the kind of idea that made him feel utterly stupid, childish and, above all, very daring and nervous. That idea wasn't what Akagi had referred to with a "surprise"... was it? Ten wasn't certain. Ten didn't know if it was wise to follow the new, unexpected urge brought into his mind by this idea.

...But he wanted to do it anyway.

Without really thinking about it, as if his body was moving on its own, he leaned closer to the other man and planted his lips on the corner of Akagi's own.

Whatever would happen, Ten would take it, he had decided.

He sat back and stared at Akagi with wide, waiting eyes.

Akagi opened his eyes as well.

And said nothing.

Ten was still waiting.

The sky was as dark, the noises of the traffic and human buzz were as quiet and distant, the air as chilly as on any other night in late August. It was only the space between Ten and Akagi that had changed - and something within themselves, too. At least Ten hoped it would cause some kind of reaction in the other man. His silence was getting more and more worrying. Ten coughed words out of his dry mouth.

"Ehm... another surprise." Akagi remained silent. "...I am surprised too." Then, the corners of Akagi's thin lips curved upwards. He turned to Ten.

"I'm not, really." Ten's eyebrows raised, and Akagi continued, "Or... more like... I was expecting for that to happen."

"...you knew?"

"I had a hunch... but I couldn't be sure. Human feelings... I am mostly good at reading the negative ones."

Ten blinked.

"But... I mean... did you... like it?"

Akagi's smile grew curvier.

"It tickled."

"Ah..."

"It was funny."

"Oh..."

"Felt nice."

Ten's heart jumped at those words.

"Have you done that with someone else before?"

Akagi grinned.

"What would you say if I said I have?"

Whatever Ten felt, it didn't feel good to him. Yet, he forced a smile on his thick lips.

"I'd say that they sure are a lucky person." Akagi blinked, then, to Ten's surprise, let out a laugh, louder than ever once that night.

"Hah hahaha...!" Akagi hardly ever laughed like that, it changed his facial features in a special way, made his cheeks rise a little, his teeth showing. Ten continued staring as Akagi calmed down and returned to his gaze, with a wide smile. "Well, if that's what you truly think... then you are a lucky person."

Something big expanded in Ten’s chest like a balloon.

Akagi smiled.

”Well… I guess that was all. It is getting late… You sure you don’t want to come with me to the hotel?”

Ten already knew his answer to that.

”No, thank you. This was more than enough for one night.”

”Hm-hm-hm… doesn’t a gambler take a chance whenever possible?”

”A good gambler knows when to fold.”

”Hahaha…! You are right. You know me - I get too excited sometimes…” Ten blushed at that. “Anyway… I will be around for a while. See you soon?”

”Absolutely.”

”Thank you.”

”Thank you… for everything.”

Ten’s eyes followed the figure of the white-haired man clothed in a green suit. Even walking alone, there was something very dominating, strong about him, his aura emitting silent self-confidence, yet it wasn’t of violent nature. Ten had always admired that about Akagi, both as a gambler and a person.

”I’d never want to be like you… but I am so lucky to know you.”

Carefully, with just the tips of his fingers, Ten touched his lips.

That night, he had gotten even luckier.

**Author's Note:**

> nobody expects the soft TenAka
> 
> TenAka doesn't seem to be very popular, not even in the Japanese-speaking FKMT fandom, but that doesn't stop me from writing about them for... three or four other English-speaking TenAka fans out there :^D TENAKA IS GOOD, I DEMAND MORE TENAKA
> 
> (this story was """proofread""" a bit hastily before publishing, I do hope you got something out of this anyway :^D happy ValenTON's Day I guess)


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